Dozens of people have been rescued from rising flood waters and thousands of homes are without power as Queensland's south-east continues to be battered by bad weather.

There has been flash flooding on the Sunshine Coast, causing havoc from Caloundra to Rainbow Beach in the north.

The Noosa river has broken its banks with more than 300 millimetres falling in the region since Thursday morning.

More than 20 State Emergency Service (SES) crews have responded to about 140 calls for help, rescuing people stranded in cars and trapped in homes.

Further north, more than 700 millimetres has fallen in parts of the Wide Bay.

Homes have been damaged and power lost because of flash flooding and strong winds of up to 105 kilometres an hour.

'Raw sewage'

The wild weather has also damaged a sewerage pipe at Caloundra, releasing raw sewage into the Pumicestone Passage.

Eleven tankers are carting waste from the site to the treatment plant.

Caloundra Mayor Don Aldous says the pipe was expected to be fixed by midday, but weather conditions delayed repairs.

"Due to all the flooding there's a lot of water," he said.

"It's been diluted, we're pumping out as much as we possibly can. But we are having great difficulties with the volume of water and our people are working on repairing the break as quickly as they possibly can.

"But they're having extreme difficulty with the soil subsiding. We expect to have that finished by late this afternoon or this evening."

The weather bureau says the rain in Queensland's parched south-east is a one in a 100-year event, making it the wettest August since the late 1800s.

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